Orava

Orava is the name of:

a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary;
a river in Slovakia;
a castle in Slovakia;
a water reservoir in Slovakia;
a village in Estonia;

Orava county

Orava (-Slovak, in Hungarian and Latin: Árva, in German: Arwa, in Polish: Orawa) is the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in northern Slovakia and southern Poland. Today, Orava is only an informal designation of the corresponding territory.

Geography

Orava county shared borders with the Austrian land Galicia and the Hungarian counties Trencsén (Trenčín), Turóc (Turiec) and Liptó (Liptov). The county's territory was situated along the Orava river between Zázrivá and the Tatra mountains. Its area was 2018 km² around 1910.

Capitals

The capital of the county was the Orava Castle, then Veličná and since late 17th century Dolný Kubín.

History

Orava county as a Hungarian comitatus arose before the 15th century. In 1918 (confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon 1920), Orava county became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia. After a border dispute (treated in detail under Spiš county) several villages in the north-east of Orava county were exchanged between Poland and Czechoslovakia.

During World War II, when Czechoslovakia was split temporarily, Orava was part of independent Slovakia. After World War II Orava county was in Czechoslovakia again. In 1993, Czechoslovakia was split and Orava became part of Slovakia.

Districts

In the early 20th century, the districts and their capitals were:

Dolný Kubín (Hungarian: Alsókubin)
Vár, capital Tvrdošín (Hungarian: Turdossin)
Námestovo (Hungarian: Námesztó)
Trstená (Hungarian: Trsztena)

Orava river

Orava is also the name of a 60.3 km long river in north-western Slovakia passing through a pictoresque country. Its source is nowadays the Orava water reservoir. It enters into the river Váh in the town of Kralovany.

Orava castle

Orava is also the name of a castle situated on a high rock (520m), which was constructed in the 13th century, considered to be one of the most interesting castles in Slovakia. The first black-and-white famous film (1922) about Dracula (until recently thought to be made in Romania) shows this castle and its surroundings as the castle of Nosferatu.

Orava reservoir

Orava is also the name of a water reservoir in northernmost Slovakia, which is the largest lake in Slovakia (35,2 km²). It has been constructed between 1941 and 1953 as a dam built on the former 2 sources of the Orava river. Several former villages had to be inundated for this purpose.

Orava, Estonia

Orava is a municipality in eastern Estonia, in Pőlva county.

External links

http://www.orava.sk (Slovak only)